Bill to introduce job-sharing for MPs

The Representation of the People (Members’ Job Share) Bill aims to introduce job sharing for MPs

The Bill been put forward to enable more people to become MPs who may not be able to at present because of their disabilities or their caring responsibilities.

It follows a campaign and e-petition by Disability Politics UK. The e-petition reads:

The House of Commons is not representative of the electorate. The House of Commons has 650 MPs. Of these 650, there are 504 male MPs, so women are seriously under represented. There are 27 MPs of black and minority ethnic (BME) origin, but there would need to be 55-60 BME MPs to be representative of the BME population. There are a handful of disabled MPs but there would need to be 65 disabled MPs to be representative of the number of disabled people in the population.

Letting MPs serve on a job share basis would enable more people from under-represented groups to stand for Parliament.

We ask that the law be changed to allow MPs to serve on a job share basis.

Legal advice about job sharing for MPs has been obtained by the Equality and Human Rights Commission from Karon Monaghan QC.

John McDonnell MP presented a ten minute rule Bill to the House of Commons on 20 November 2012 to seek to change the law to enable MPs to job share. He has made a video explaining that Parliament does not really reflect our community overall.

In addition, Caroline Lucas, the Green Party MP for Brighton Pavillion, has produced a video explaining why she thinks that allowing Parliamentarians to job share would help to make Westminster more inclusive.